I'm gonna buy me a...

Something major is about to happen in our family.  We’re adopting a dog!  His name is Freddie, and he is a Bichon Frise mix PDaniel found online.  He is currently in a shelter in Park City.  We went to visit him on Friday, knowing he was one of the breeds we were considering; his description on the website was glowing, and well-behaved, young dogs like him don’t show up in shelters every day.  So we went up to visit him.  He seemed like a very sweet dog, good-natured and loving, so we snapped him up.  He was still on medication for a cold, and had to be neutered, but he should be ready by Wednesday or Thursday for PDan to go and get him.  He is thrilled, and spent much of today rounding up dog supplies.  I'm glad, because the dog is his sole responsibility; I have enough people to take care of!

Dangerboy's birthday was last Saturday, and he wanted a Harry Potter party, just like last year.  Ended up inviting the entire neighborhood (almost) of children, as we have been known to do.  I think it was mostly a successful party…several kids asked to stay and play when it was over (roundly denied, we were so tired).  I dressed like McGonagall.  We played the Bertie Botts Every Flavor Bean game as an icebreaker, always a hit.  DB had requested we do a “Harry Potter IV party”, so we had a tri-wizard tournament: diet-soda-and-Mentos fountains to kick it off, then Quidditch, and obstacle course, and a dragon piñata for the three events.  PDan spent lots of time making the piñata, since I couldn’t find one to purchase.  Quidditch was played without brooms, with a soccer ball and a kid running around in one of my yellow t-shirts pretending to be the Snitch.  It would have been more of a success had the grass not been so wet because of sprinklers; several of the kids slipped spectacularly and got soaked.  The obstacle course was lame and last-minute, but the pinata was a hit (ha)!

The cake was another PDan creation: DB wanted the Monster Book of Monsters, so that’s what we made.  I did most of the prep work, and PDan did the creative parts.  Then all the kids went home, we opened DB’s family presents, he started acting weepy, we took his temperature, and realized it was 102.5.  Yikes!  He took a nap and some meds and felt well enough by evening that we all went to Brick Oven for dinner, but after a weekend of high fevers, barfing, and terrible sore throats, he is now on amoxicillin for strep throat.  Poor kid, that has got to be my least favorite illness.

Cookie-Nut funnies:

CN wants a chihuahua and a cat for a pet (not getting them, but oh well).  She wants to name the cat Popcorn; the dog, she wants to name Meat.  She has a stuffed cat she has christened Eyeballs.

CN was using a laundry basket, tied behind her neck with string, as a drum.  She was pretending to be marching in a parade (DB had one too).  Her string broke on one side, and she cried, “My drum is not working!”  She started dragging it along the floor by the remaining string.  “Now it’s a wagon!”  she despaired.  Then she giggled.  “I want it to be a wagon!!” she bounced away.  I thought it was a good example of CN’s flexibility and resilience.  (She can be stubborn too, though).

Last night, at dinner, she said she knows a girl named Guisie (“guy-zie”).  She said that she does not like Guisie.  When asked various questions about this girl,  it turns out the girl lives at Trafalga (local mini-golf place).  She has blue hair, is four years old, and eats bugs.  I asked her if she’d ever talked to Guisie.  CN:  “Guisie said, ‘Come here, come on and eat some bugs with me.’  I said, ‘No!’ and ran home.”  Guisie’s parents, friends, and brothers and sisters are of the same description, age, and disposition as Guisie herself.  This was all told very matter-of-factly, and rather offhand.  I think CN believed it her self as soon as the words left her mouth.  I almost did, too!

I forgot to mention that I threw a brunch party last week for a few of the women in my ward who are having babies this summer.  It was fun.  One of the women is a big Anne fan, so I made strawberry scones and raspberry cordial (straight from the Anne of Green Gables Cookbook), and a friend brought a yummy lemon cake, and I dug out an old Anne soundtrack CD.  It made me want to thrown an honest-to-goodness Anne party someday, maybe for Cookie-Nut, when she's interested.  

TMI time:  I went to the temple yesterday and thought more about the to-have-more-kids-or-not question.  It’s sure a difficult one, fraught with guilt and second-guessing.  I feel these days as though my life is more balanced than it has been in a long time, and I really value that:  I’m exercising a little, working a little, spending time with my kids, writing a little, cleaning my house a little, spending time with my husband a little.  I feel great.  I know that having another baby will throw that off, and if I have one, don’t I need to have at least two more?  So they’ll have playmates?  And then it will be at least six more years before I attain my present levels of balance, and that’s hard for me to fathom.

Then the guilt sets in.  I’m being selfish.  And of course I’d love a baby when it came.  But would I resent it too?  And then feel guilty about resenting it, because I loved the baby so much?  And then ignore it too much?  And don’t I have more time to serve and help others now (like all the babysitting I did today and will do tomorrow), because I’m freed up a little more than women with more kids?  And then there are PDaniel and Dangerboy, neither of whom handles stress particularly well.  DB needs more time with me as it is, and what would happen to that?  I need to consider them too. 

And then I think, well, if I finish my book, I will have accomplished a major goal.  Maybe then I can have one more baby, one to be cuddled and spoiled by the whole family? 

I grew up with only one other sibling.  And we were fine.  But it was what God wanted, right, because Mom just never got pregnant again naturally, and Dad didn’t really want any more kids. 

I think I came away with the feeling that it’s up to me.  And PDan (who is inscrutable when it comes to this question).  That either way, it’s OK.  But that’s hard for me to wrap my head around, with all my Mormon conditioning.  To be honest, I think I’d be happier stopping with the two kids we have now.  If it weren’t for the guilt.

Which is where the surrogacy thing comes in.  I think it would help assuage the guilt.  Don’t know if I’m right about that.

Cookie-Nut:  Mom, can you balance books on your head?  (Yes).  Like the ladies in New York?  (I had images of beautiful models practicing runway walking.)  With food on their head?  (Turns out she was getting New York mixed up with Africa…we talk a lot about travel in our family!  It’s easy to get places mixed up.)

Blast to the past

So, I have been extremely remiss in chronicling the happenings of our family lately, and am now going to attempt to catch up a bit. Keep in mind, the same thing happened last fall, and I never wrote about out whole summer then either. But I do need to write about my kids, so here's what I remember about Dangerboy's fifth birthday, which was back in May...
I brought treats to preschool--I used my mom's cupcake tree and some awesomely disgusting gummie bugs as toppers. they were a hit. I was told to bring something more healthy too, so I brought strawberries and cheese sticks...completely untouched by those punk kids. Oh well, can you blame them? But would it have killed them to eat cupcakes AND the other stuff?
For our home party, we had some neighborhood friends over. I think I told him he could invite five kids (a couple of them came late and aren't in the picture), as opposed to last year, which was a crazy all-the-kids-we-know-and-their-families extravaganza. We love you, friends, but we wanted something a little more low-key this year. And we got it--the kids had fun playing inside and outside, we had cake (which was awesomely awesome), and there were Transformer decorations. And he got lots of Transformers (which he doesn't play with much because they're too hard to transform--darn you, deceptively simple Bumblebee, the first one we owned!)--so he was happy. A good time had by all.

And here are some old Dangerboy pictures, just for fun. He was two-ish and three-ish in these ones.

Sweet Pete

PDaniel had a birthday last week. I miraculously got out of work that day (I played Fiddler on the Roof in Garden Grove for the rest of the week) and he didn't have to go to school that day. Yay! So he got to play all day.

I asked him what he wanted for his birthday, and one of the things he wanted was a full Irish breakfast. So we had bacon, sausage, eggs, mushrooms, hash browns, cheese crepes with cherries, chocolate milk, orange juice...and whatever else is in this picture! Oh yeah, fried tomatoes (tasty)!

Then he went shopping and saw Iron Man II, which he liked. Yes, he had to go alone, since the kids had what I've come to call "spots," and were thus unfit to be babysat.

We finished up the day with yummies from Lucilles' BBQ (takeout) and lemon meringue pie. A good time had by all.

Optimus Mummified

Dangerboy wanted a "Transformer Mummy" cake for his birthday. My idea involved cupcakes, an action figure, and Ace bandages...this was Peter's idea. And yes, HE MADE IT!! My hero. First time fondant maker, no less.

Is it a touch better than mine would have been?...Do ya think? He spent hours! He made fondant out of marshmallows and powdered sugar, rolled it out by hand, and sculpted the head out of Rice Krispie treats! Not bad for an English Major, eh? Oh, and Cookie-Nut was pretty good inspiration. When she wore DB's Optimus Prime mask she and the cake had about the same proportions.

Mother's Day 2010

I woke up (late) this morning to the sweet smell of mouth-watering crepes, which we filled with all kinds of yummy SoCal fruit. Dinner wan Coq-au-Grape Juice, lovingly slaved over again by PDaniel, for THREE HOURS. Tuesday he is, theoretically, giving me the whole day off for my Mother's Day present. Today was all about the food (he did all the dishes too, BY HAND). He also wrote a very sweet card which I know I'll pull out on difficult mothering days to come.

For her Mother's Day present to me, Cookie-Nut figured out how to climb on top of the (small) file cabinet in my bedroom and look out the window. Thanks a lot, only daughter.

Dangerboy had kind of a punchy day, but it started and ended well. In the morning, he gave me the second of two presents he made for me at school. The first was a rather halfheartedly-made key chain (given with his whole heart, or course). This second was a large card with his hand print in purple on the cover. Inside was a portrait, Mrs. potato Head style, of me, with the caption "MY MOM." Then there was a transcript of a little interview:

My mom's favorite color is: "I think it's pink."

My mom likes to eat: "She likes to eat Japanese food."

How old is your mom? "I think she's 39."

What does your mom do while you are at school? "Going to the store. Sometimes stay at home and plays."

What does your mom like to do with your daddy? "Like to talk."

What do you like to do with your mom? "I like to go outside and play."

If you could buy your mom a present, what would it be? "Buy something to read."

Why do you love your mom? "Because she likes me."

I liked this because I didn't realize how well my son knows me. With the exception of my favorite color (my iPod is pink? Other than that I don't really own any) and my age, which I don't really expect him to know, everything else was spot on. It poked my heart a little to think that the reason he knows his dad and I like to talk, and that I like to read, is that he sometimes has to wait for my attention while I do those things. And I think that sometimes he acts out because he can't have all the attention from me that he craves.

But he needs soooo much! And he loves me soooo much! How in the world can I live up to it?!? And if I can't, will he ever forgive me?

Ah, the questions of motherhood.

My Mother's Day with DB ended outside, with DB counting stars and me tallying them up in a book he made today, a la Curious George. He saw about 61.

And miles to go before we sleep...

Valentine's Eve

Dear Mom,

We're doing OK. Cookie-Nut is mostly normal, just has a runny nose and a yucky cough. Oh, and Dangerboy had a bad dream last night--in the fallout, CN woke up and refused to go back to sleep. It was about 3:30 AM and she was up for the day. She had a long nap earlier, but is sleeping quite restlessly now, she's just so tired. Hope we're not in for another long night!

There are so many sweet things about her age (19 months): How she says new words every day; how she brings me little things like dandelions and rocks as if they're so amazing; how she spins in circles just for the joy of falling down. We love her impulsive hugs and, occasionally, even little bites of love or frustration. But one of the not-fun things is definitely all her opinions with very little rationality.

I remember how nice it was when DB was three and could understand things when I explained them, like, "Everyone else is asleep, it's dark outside, mommy is really tired and you are too, so let's just lay down and see if we can go back to sleep." She didn't buy it for an instant! The funniest part was when I was lying next to her, trying to set a good example of "sleeping" and she just kept bonking her head into mine: Bonk. "Ow!" (Giggle.) Bonk. "Ow!" (Giggle.) But the rest was just maddening!

Her latest word is, "Yeah?"--which is actually really nice.
"Cookie-Nut, wanna try some watermelon?"
"Yeah?" It sounds like a question, but we know what she means.

"Cookie-Nut, you wanna go to the beach? "
"Yeah?" And she means it.

"Cookie-Nut, you want some ice cream?"
"Yeah? Yeah!!!!"
"Cookie-Nut, you want some canteloupe?"
"Moe!" (That's how she's been saying "no.") The best part is that she doesn't even think before she says it--she knows exactly what she wants right away.

In other news, I played for a bunch of flute students at a festival today, and thus filled out the holes in our budget for the month. A lady from the ward watched the kids while PDaniel worked on his job talk (he's at his professor's now discussing it with her) and went to get his hair cut. No time for Valentine's day this year, but hopefully we'll get to go out when he comes back. This afternoon PDaniel blew up the big beach balls from DB's birthday party a couple of years ago and they played outside while CN and I picked flowers from ice plants and squirted the leaves at each other. Then I took them both to the beach, where DB collected bamboo sticks that washed up in the storms and I tried to keep CN out of the water.

Then I ate way too much ravioli for dinner.

Well, it looks like this letter turned into a journal entry, so I guess I'll post it and then go switch the laundry.

Hope everything is well! Not too much snow, I hope?

Love,
Chris

PS, thanks for the sweet Valentine's "card" too--I really do like that one! :)

Summer #1

Well, summer is almost over--no,no, it's really not that sad; there's something to be said for having places to go (preschool) and people to see (preschool buddies). But it would be truly sad if summer 2009 were over and we had no record of it. So here goes:

In June, Grandma Wendy paid a visit, yay! and we all went to the beach. Oh, I think we saw Monsters vs. Aliens too. We liked. Here's the beach:And here's a little alien:
Just kidding. Actually, Dangerboy devised some earmuffs for the night the fire alarm went off repeatedly at bedtime, for no reason. It's fixed now, hallelujah.

A lot of our friends moved. They are truly missed (read: We're screamin' bored!). I don't have pictures of all of them (Palmers, you left before we could get back!), but here are a few. Dangerboy still talks about Tiger Lily almost every day. "She loves me," he's been heard to mumble when things aren't going well:
Don't forget to check out the Faded Paper Figures new music video on MySpace. (John, above, is a member. Brooke rocks too, I've heard her.) They were a featured band there, ya know. I'm featured in the acknowledgements of their first album, having introduced the band members to each other (and forgetting that fact until the album came out). Yes, I'm bragging. When one has so few claims to fame, one must make the most of them.

I'll be back with more summer...

Happy Birthday Cookie-Nut!

Cookie-Nut's birthday was on the 8th. So smiley, so curious, so amazing. The day after this, her first birthday, I left her alone for a minute and came back to find that she'd used a small chair to climb onto another chair, up to her booster seat, and was standing on the arm of her booster seat with her hands on the counter (presumably ready to climb up there!). So scary. Today she got into the toothbrush drawer again and PDaniel found her sucking on a tube of toothpaste...had to call Poison Control just in case...she's fine, of course, but Dangerboy was not this climb-y or into things. Gonna hafta watch this one. (BTW, Poison Control is going away in California. Gone the way of budget cuts. What is this state coming to? This seems like a pretty basic service to me.)

And she is soooooo loud! On July 4th we went to Ruby's for dinner. PDaniel stepped away to take Dangerboy to the bathroom (which turned out to be a messy experience, yuck) and she let out a screech of displeasure that literally made the whole restaurant fall silent and look our direction. As in, "What are you DOING to that child?" I paid the check as quickly as possible and skedaddled. (PDaniel went back for shakes, of course).

(In other July 4th news, we went swimming with our friends, braved the ward breakfast, and tried, with extremely modest success, to view the fireworks at Huntington Beach. Maybe I'll write more about that later).

Anyway, for Cookie-Nut's birthday, we went to Wild Rivers, a water park here in Irvine. Cookie-Nut had fun, I think. Her favorite part was the section with the fountains that came out of pipes and the ground...meaning we probably could have gone to the Spectrum Mall and she would have been just as happy. And we went in the evening, when it was cheaper, so it was kind of...cold. But Dangerboy had a blast and would love to go back, even though he could only ride the tiny waterslides. He and his daddy loved the wave pool too. (Sorry, we didn't get any pictures--should've got a waterproof disposable).
Then we came home and had cake. Cookie-Nut was pretty tired, but since we presented her with the whole cake, she mustered enough energy to dig in. She poked it a lot first, though. With one finger. :) It was a pretty boring-looking cake, if tasty--some random organic white cake mix from Sprouts (I ran out of time), with homemade lemon buttercream frosting. I could eat that stuff with a spoon! And did!

She opened presents in the morning--she got books, yay!

Anyway, in tribute of Cookie-Nut's birthday, here are some things she has come to be able to do since I wrote last:

• Walks well
• Says "uh-oh," "hi," and "flower" (wow-wow)
• Signs: bird, dog, cat, bear, more, all done, fish, drink, milk, and music
• Has shrieking contests with her brother--they've started to play together
  
• Rolls a ball back and forth with me
  
• Tries to put on clothes over her head (she did it once but cried)
  
• Readies herself for diaper changes (basically comes and sits down on the diaper mat)
• When she wants to be read to, she brings you a book, throws it down on the floor, and sits on you.
• All her first-year molars have come in!

She's really growing up, no? This first year has gone so fast.

Happy Birthday, Dangerboy!

Dangerboy is four!!! Where has the time gone? We had a wild party (at our house--what, are we insane?) featuring DB's stomp rocket, giant beach balls, and parachute (not for jumping, just for playing). We try to add something new for outside fun each birthday--so far they've been a success! There should be four toys, but the last two bubble swords have been tricky to come by and break easily--but also very popular and fun! DB loved his party, every crazy minute--the outside stuff, the inside present/almost-hijacked-candle-blowing/Kung-Fu-Panda-viewing/cake-grinding into-carpet madness.

Oh, and before the party PDaniel took DB to Disneyland/California Adventure to take advantage of birthday discounts on year passes...I'll be getting my pass on my birthday in the fall, after summer blackout days. It was kinda crowded, so they only rode Midway Madness and Winnie the Pooh, two of DB's faves. (And on opposite sides of the parks....)

In celebration of Dangerboy, here are some things he's accomplished in the last year:

• grown almost three inches and gained seven pounds
• learned how to count objects well
• mastered putting on shoes and socks, brushing teeth, and going potty without help
• learned how to write his name, write and identify letters, and sound out some simple words
• remembers his dreams
• uses tape, staplers, stickers, beads, and paint without help
• has held a baby
• learned "arigatou" without anyone teaching him! :) ("Thank you" in Japanese)
• can ride a scooter
• draws people with faces, arms and legs, hands and feet
• learned to be contemplative: "Mom, how we make water?" "How we break the law?" "How the world go round and round?"

We love our Dangerboy!

(PS--If you didn't hear about the party, don't worry--since we stayed home this year, we decided to keep it to families with kids DB plays with on a regular basis. It still added up to a lot of people...maybe next year we'll be back at the Commons!)

By Emily Dickinson...

Nature, the gentlest mother,
Impatient of no child,
The feeblest or the waywardest,
Her admonition mild

In forest and the hill
By traveller is heard,
Restraining rampant squirrel,
Or too impetuous bird.

How fair her conversation,
A summer afternoon,--
Her household, her assembly;
And when the sun goes down,

Her voice among the aisles
Incites the timid prayer
Of the minutest cricket,
The most unworthy flower.

When all her children sleep
She turns as long away
As will suffice to light her lamps;
Then, bending from the sky,

With infinite affection,
And infiniter care,
Her golden finger on her lip,
Wills silence everywhere.

(Isn't that lovely? Aaron Copland set it to music too. Also lovely. Sorry, no picture. Can't get it to work today. Now I'm just going to take a nap. Ahhh.)

Easter fun

I don't think I've posted about Easter yet--alas, what a procrastinator's journal misses. We went to Arizona; it rained on our Easter egg hunt, but Dangerboy had a blast nonetheless; PDaniel and I had a fun dinner-and-a-show date (Wildflower Bread Company, then The Merchant of Venice by Southwest Shakespeare Company); DB and Cookie-Nut ran wild with their fun cousins, uncles, and aunts; Cookie Nut took her first steps; I went prom dress shopping with Bonnie and the girls...all that we could ask for in an Easter weekend. And more.

And here are some pics to prove it:
In a moment of weakness, I got way too excited about buying my first daughter's first Easter dress. So I bought two (on sale, of course). Here's the other one.Not the greatest picture (we were in a hurry--late to church as usual), but cute, right?

Cookies and spice

So, our beloved Cookie-Nut has reached the 6-month mark! That warrants a birthday post, I think. In the last six months, Cookie-Nut has learned to:

--talk to herself, especially lying next to me in bed in the morning (one of my favorite times of day)

--roll over both ways

--lift herself up on her arms

--alllllmost sit by herself

--charm everyone with her smiles

--belly laugh

--kick her brother in the face (he loves it)

--be nearly smothered by her brother's affection (she loves it)

--chew on her thumbs

--chew on her toes

--thouroughly examine both sides of each hand

--pass an object from one hand to the other (disputed)

--press the end of her thumb onto a surface and rotate her hand around it (a quirky little habit)

--jump in her jumper or on a willing lap

--breastfeed and drink from a bottle too

--eat squishy stuff from a spoon

AND last but not least: Sleep all night! (just kidding...sigh)

Christmas Images

Our first actual Christmas tree (thanks, Gardener!)

Sleeping next to Cookie-Nut; being almost asleep and then feeling her tiny fingers on my cheek

Listening to the perfect high-school tunes, chosen by Shaun, the king of recorded music, as we wrapped gifts Christmas Eve

"Rock n' Roll McDonald's!" during Christmas Eve dinner. Later, Dangerboy singing it (somehow, it became funny)

Later, pillow-reminiscing with P. about about the music that used to remind us of each other before we were married (me: "Kiss Me" by Harry Connick Jr.; him: "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing"--interesting)

The sweet taste of LOTS of dairy-free cookies my mom so lovingly made for me--thank you Granny Westwood for that raisin cookies recipe!!

Dangerboy in his snowsuit--blue pants, red sweatshirt, red-white-and-blue scarf. Pink cheeks. Blue Eyes. Blond hair. Why did I not get a picture??? (Oh yeah, because he wouldn't let me)

Being tackled by P. while wearing my snowsuit--the strange feel of rolling in snow but being perfectly warm. Why did nobody ever tell me how great snow pants are??

Cookie-Nut in the arms of Mom or Dad, in the rocking chair by the fire

Granny Lois' hands, holding the seashell I found in her garage

Snow, a foot high on the stair rail

Dangerboy, so excited about presents!Dad, P., and Shaun endlessly shoveling the driveway (esp. Dad). (Broken snowblower, alas)

P. looking so awesome and at home in his snow clothes, sledding in the front yard with Dangerboy and Shaun (this picture is either of Shaun or Dad though)The boys in their snow cave
Tears over nachos with P. and John at Gringos

Playing with Magnetix at the Samuelsons'

Cherie's insane theater!!

Dangerboy and Brian N. running around the house pulling strings of gold plastic beads: the next generation of friends

Christmas fun (I'll post more later, I hope)

Halloween-y

Ward Halloween party. DB was enthralled by everything--as you can see...I couldn't get anyone to look at the camera! Halloween is DB's new favorite event. He was thrilled about dressing up as Batman, but he said he was going to be a lion "for Christmas." Cookie-Nut was a pink cat, and calmly took the evening's madness in. Nothing quite as chaotic as a ward Trunk-or-Treat, except maybe for the madness in the cultural hall immediately preceding one, as the kids work themselves up into a frenzy of candy anticipation.

Thirty, Flirty and Thriving...

...well, the first one's true, anyway, har har. The big three-oh was a couple of weeks ago now, but due to various viruses and child sleep problems, I'm just getting around to posting about it! I had an awesome day. It started with a delicious breakfast, a yummy omelet cooked by PDaniel. Then Dangerboy and I went to the Pumpkin Patch with his preschool. It was kinda fun, but it would have been more fun had it not been, like, 95 degrees that day. When I came home, PDaniel sent me off to the mall. I didn't get around much to the shopping, but I did have a leisurely lunch at Wahoo's, during which I read my book. By myself. In the middle of the day. Ah, the bliss.

Then I had my very first pedicure (the Happy Nails lady was shocked!) The pedicure was very fun, though I felt a little weird (guilty?) having a nice Filipino lady pamper my feet while I sat in a thronelike chair...I think P. postcolonialist studies are getting to me. She actually completely exfoliated my feet and legs, gave them a clay mask, and wrapped them in hot towels. I don't know whether my feet were worth all the trouble (I think my face would have done me more good) but it was fun! And I like having cute toes for once. (I also got my first eyebrow wax, because the wax lady said I "really need one." Which, let's face it, was true.) When I got home, PDaniel had made an extremely yummy dairy- and soy-free carrot cake, full of raisins and nuts and pineapple--so yummy I ate it all week for breakfast AND dessert. We opened presents--An Arsonist's Guide to Writer's Homes in New England by Brock Clark and Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver. The day ended with a bayview dinner at Villa Nova in Newport Beach. It was good, though a cheese-free Italian dinner was trickier than I thought, and I wasn't able to eat the ice-cream heart they so nicely brought out for me at the end (I just ate the strawberries). Mostly it was just nice to be out on a date with my real sweetheart--our first night out alone since Cookie-Nut was born. Hopefully not our last. So, an action-packed, very fun birthday, even if it was my thirtieth. Thank you so much P.! I'm simultaneously spoiled and lucky to have you!

Happy Birthday, Dangerboy!

This week DB celebrated his third birthday! I just love him more and more every birthday he has. Here's a list of some things DB has learned how to do over the past year:

Sleep in a big boy bed (never fallen out...knock wood)
Sing the alphabet well, and to two different tunes
Be potty trained
Talk really well!
Arrange letters so they spell his name (sometimes...)
Give up his passy (this is really recent, we're still working on it)
Pedal a bike w/training wheels
Draw a circle
Do a somersault
Dress himself (still trying to get motivation for that one)
Talk on the phone
Recite "Hey, Diddle Diddle"
Use the computer mouse
Find various countries/continents on a world map
Say please, thank you, and excuse me
Give great hugs and kisses
Crack an egg
Use "just kidding" in context

For his birthday, we took DB to Disneyland (thanks Grandma and Paka), which he was thrilled about at first...but then threw a fit when he saw we were in line for the Pirates ride...I think he's decided it's too scary (he used to love it). But he enjoyed Winnie the Pooh, the Jungle Cruise, Buzz Lightyear, and the Jedi Training show, though he was bitterly disappointed that he didn't get to "play" with the light sabers on stage with the other kids. Maybe when he's a little bigger... He forgot his disappointment when Darth Vader came out! That was very impressive. (Not that he's ever seen the movies...)

I love you, Dangerboy!

Just a few pictures from our little trip last month...P. and I drove up to Solvang and Santa Barbara for a couple of days, babysitting courtesy of my lovely mother. Everything was beautiful, lovely and green; we spent lots of time in a favorite Solvang bookstore and Cafe Angelica. The next day we ate some delicious pastries and headed for the hills--hiked to a lovely waterfall a few miles outside town. Then we drove down to Santa Barbara, and visited the mission (the skull-and-crossbones door is the mission's door from the church to the graveyard where, incidentally, the main character of Island of the Blue Dolphins is buried. I'd forgotten she was a real person). Then we visited the wharf, caught a movie (Persepolis) and drove home. So pleasant, so relaxing. thanks again, Mom! And thanks, P., for taking time off from exam-reading to enjoying it with me!

What I did last summer

I never wrote down anywhere what we did. Here's a brief description:

1. Cursed Jiffy Lube. Got a simple oil change; they didn't screw on the filter tight enough; we drove to Arizona...wham! Our engine was ruined. Luckily, they had the engine replaced for us with not too much hassle, though it took a month. Our insurance company AND the dealership both said they get about four engine replacement requests every year because of oil shops like Jiffy Lube. Take caution, all.

2. Went to AZ to visit P.'s family...hot but fun!

3. Went on a rare all-day date with P. thanks to some "extreme babysitting" (patent pending). We went on a hike, played on the beach, saw the latest Harry Potter movie, bought new shoes, and had dinner at an Italian place by South Coast Plaza. That night we watched Sweet Home Alabama and ate mochi ice cream. If only
more days could be like that one!

4. Took Dangerboy to the Getty museum. DB wasn't terribly interested in most of the exhibits, but he likes the children's room (I did too) and the "King's Menagerie" and made a cool mask, which he put on so he could run around and scare strangers. The museum itself is beautiful, as are the gardens.


5. Spent a night at my Auntie Eva's near San Diego, reconnecting with some cousins, and hanging out at the downtown Escondido vintage car show, which is a fun place in the summertime--quirky places to eat, cool cars, old people, young punk-types, families, and 50's music: Mom and Eva swing-danced on a street corner for a while as the rest of us pretended we didn't know them (but secretly it looked like fun).

5. Went with a group of very fun friends to see Wicked playing at the Pantages in LA. I really enjoyed it--the talent was amazing--I especially loved the first act closer "Defying Gravity."

6. P. got to present a paper at a conference in Vancouver, which went really well. He made some good contacts, and people seemed to be really interested in what he had to say.

7. While P. globetrotted, Dangerboy and I headed up to Utah and Idaho to visit family. DB's favorite part of Grandma and Grandpa's was picking green apples off their tree and playing with them in the kiddie pool or the sandbox. We went to the zoo while there, and also had an adventurous canoe trip, which I will write about separately. He loved playing with his cousins too--we got to spend a day on the "beach" of a random deserted Utah lake with them. Again, hot but fun!